Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) is celebrating Black History Month by honoring notable African American figures in technology. Every week, we will share an individual who serves as an inspiration for our work as technologists and in government services.

We start out our series with Katherine Johnson. Most of us were introduced to her contributions through the popular book and movie, Hidden Figures, but Katherine has played an important role in the history of science and technology beyond that moment in history.

At MNIT, we are inspired by Katherine Johnson’s dedication to science and technology. She was a lifelong learner who inspires us to explore, innovate, and succeed:

“Everything was so new. The whole idea of going into space was new and daring. There were no textbooks, so we had to write them.”

– Katherine Johnson in an interview on March 6, 1996.

About Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson, born Katherine Coleman, grew up in West Virginia and quickly emerged as a standout academic, graduating from high school at age 14 and from West Virginia State College at 18. When West Virginia University began integrating its graduate schools, Johnson was one of three African American students, and the only woman, to begin classes in 1939.

In 1953, after years as a public-school teacher and stay-at-home mom, Johnson and her family moved to Langley, Virginia for her to begin working for what would become NASA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Many women were hired by NASA for what was considered monotonous and time-consuming work – measuring and calculating the results of wind test tunnels – and were called ‘human computers.’ By 1953, as research into space grew exponentially, so did the demand for mathematicians, leading NACA to expand their workforce by hiring African American women. While Johnson and her African American colleagues faced discrimination within the workplace, as they were forced to used segregated facilities until 1958, she spoke in length about the need to be assertive in the workplace.

Her dedication to math and science was integral to her life and personality.

“I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to the church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed…anything that could be counted, I did.”

- Katherine Johnson

Johnson worked at NASA until retirement in 1986 and by that time she had co-authored or authored 26 scientific papers.

Lifetime of Contributions

Johnson was an aerospace technologist and her calculations ensured the success of some of NASA’s most important missions.

• 1960 – Co-authored the article, “Determination of Azimuth Angle at Burnout for Placing a Satellite Over a Selected Earth Position” with engineer Ted Skopinski. This was the first time a woman in the Flight Research Division received credit as an author of a research report.
• 1961 – Johnson calculated the trajectory for the flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space. She also calculated the launch window for his Mercury mission that same year.
• 1962 – She is perhaps most well-known for her work on John Glenn’s mission, the first American to orbit Earth. At NASA in 1962, computers programmed the orbital equations but Glenn would not begin his mission until Johnson confirmed the results by hand using a desktop mechanical calculating machine.
• 1969 – Her team calculated the trajectory for the Apollo 11 flight to the moon.
• 1970 – While the Apollo 13 mission was aborted, Johnson calculated backup procedures and charts that made sure the crew landed safely.

Legacy

Johnson is an inspiration for women in the STEM field. Her dedication to the work led to an amazing list of accomplishments that set a path forward for many women behind her. Her contributions in her field enabled a successful space shuttle program and drove decades of research into technology that we use today. While working at NASA, Johnson was a pioneer for the use of computers to perform tasks. NASA noted that Johnson holds a historical role as one of the first African American women to work as a NASA scientist. In 2015, President Obama awarded Johnson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.

Sources

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/katherine-g-johnson